Urban Housing Development Research Articles

Real Estate Taxes and Fees: Impacts on Urban Land and Housing Development in China

Real estate taxes and fees affect land markets and housing development patterns in significant ways affecting the timing of real estate development, spatial patterns of land development, and the capital intensity of development. This paper examines the economic impacts of real estate taxes and fees in a dynamic framework, with special application to proposed reforms in China. Impacts identified are also relevant for real estate tax and fee reforms more generally in developing countries whose institutional real estate regimes are in transition.

Communities’ Environment Improvement Network: Strategy and Process toward Sustainable Urban Poor Housing Development

“Baan Mankong” program is presently the government’s major policy in urban poor housingdevelopment in Thailand, undertaken by Community Organization Development Institute (CODI). The mainstrategy of the program is to upgrade living conditions, secure tenure as well as community capacitybuilding through communities’ self-proposed projects and people participation process. This paper isderived from the experience in the development practice of a case study on Bang Bua canal in Bangkok,where on both sides of the waterfront are presently illegally occupied by a group of neighborhoods. Thesecommunities have invaded into public land and settled their housing trespassing into the canal. Theprevious attempts by the local authority to evict the waterfront urban poor communities, for being thecause of water pollutions and other associated environmental problems, had led to a long conflict in urbandevelopment.
 To achieve the goals of sustainable community development, it is vital that not only the coreproblems of urban poor housing such as the lack of secure tenure and development funding are systematicallysolved, but also to evoke residents’ participation and people awareness on environment related issues.The Bang Boa community development scheme under the “Baan ManKong” program is expected to highlightinitial guidelines and strategies for urban poor settlements’ redevelopment of other waterfront area ofBangkok. This paper will discuss how the process of community capacity building and empowerment havebeen undertaken and will be initiated, particularly in establishing various networks as a significantdevelopment strategy.

Urban poor housing development on Bangkok’s waterfront: securing tenure, supporting community processes

This paper describes a project to upgrade living conditions and provide secure tenure in nine “canal settlement” communities in Bangkok. It explains how this was planned and implemented, both on the ground and at the policy level, working with national institutions including the Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) and the government body that owned the land. The different institutions involved are described, including the savings groups in each of the nine communities and the network of community organizations, which were particularly important for the realization of the project. The paper also discusses how upgrading plans were developed and how conflicts were addressed.

Developing HIV Service-Enriched Permanent Housing in Five Cities

Newer antiretroviral treatments are adding years to the lives of people with HIV. At the same time, the face of the epidemic is changing to include increasing numbers of people with other diagnoses, especially chronic substance use and/or mental illness, that compromise their ability to secure and maintain permanent housing. Social service providers are increasingly attempting to meet the need for permanent supportive housing. However, many social service providers are new to developing specialized permanent housing, and little practical guidance exists. We use the experience of five agencies participating in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) Multiple Diagnoses Initiative to explore the potential pitfalls and solutions in developing these programs, from the point of view of providers from social service rather than housing backgrounds

わが国戦前期の都市独立住宅における外部意匠の変容過程に関する一考察 : 「あめりか屋」の住宅作品の外部意匠を中心に

We analyzed the exterior design of 500 houses designed by Amerikaya housing company that contributed to a development of free-standing urban housing, appeared in the architectural magazines and female magazines in the time period from 1909 to 1943. Analysis points are: exterior wall (finish), roof (shape, material, incline) and window (shape, grille) of the entrance facade showed in the photographs and drawings in the magazines. Analyzing the exterior design allowed us to make the following conclusion. 1) In Meiji and Taisho era, there were three types of finish. In particular, 'wood siding on the first floor and plaster wall on the second floor' 'steep gabled roof' 'square grill in the window' were typical. 2) In early Showa era, particularly after 1932, 'Plaster finish' 'Gently inclined gabled and hipped roof with Spanish tile' were typical. This shift from the former (1909 to 1925) to the latter (1922 to 1940) matched with the styles from Bungalow to Spanish. Both styles were brought from the United States. This study clarified strong influence of American housing on the development of Western style modern urban detached houses in Japan.

Louis I. Kahn. Parasol Houses

Kahn began designing social housing projects and urban housing developments for immigrants and workers in Philadelphia in the 1930s. During his lifetime he worked on some sixty projects, including houses, terraced homes, housing additions, refurbishing and apartment buildings, although the great majority made it no further than the paper they were designed on. In fact, if we limit ourselves to detached homes, beginning with Oser House , which he built during the Second World War, and ending with Korman House , finished in 1973, Kahn only built 10 of these projects.

Wind, rain and bacteria: The effect of weather on the microbial composition of roof-harvested rainwater

The microbiological and chemical quality of tank-stored rainwater is impacted directly by roof catchment and subsequent run-off contamination, via direct depositions by birds and small mammals, decay of accumulated organic debris, and atmospheric deposition of airborne micro-organisms and chemical pollutants. Previous literature reports on roof water quality have given little consideration to the relative significance of airborne micro-organisms. This study involved analyses of direct roof run-off at an urban housing development in Newcastle, on the east coast of Australia. A total of 77 samples were collected during 11 separate rainfall events, and microbial counts and mean concentrations of several ionic contaminants were matched to climatic data corresponding to each of the monitored events. Conditions both antecedent to, and those prevailing during each event, were examined to investigate the influence of certain meteorological parameters on the bacterial composition of the roof water and indirectly assess the relative contribution of airborne micro-organisms to the total bacterial load. Results indicated that airborne micro-organisms represented a significant contribution to the bacterial load of roof water at this site, and that the overall contaminant load was influenced by wind velocities, while the profile (composition) of the load varied with wind direction. The implications of these findings to the issues of tank water quality and health risk analysis, appropriate usage and system design are discussed.

Rural versus Urban African-American Adolescents

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the differences between rural versus urban African-American adolescents on several scores of perceived competence in important areas of an adolescent's development. The sample included only African-American adolescents either living in urban public housing developments or a rural area approximately 40 miles away in the mid-south region. The Harter scale was utilized and the areas of competence included: scholastic competence, physical appearance, athletic competence, behavioral conduct, close friendships, social acceptance, and global self-worth. All scores were analyzed between environments and within gender. The urban sample scored significantly higher on several normed mean scores of self-competence with the exception of athletic ability, and social acceptance. In addition, the sample was contrasted with the original population norms developed by the authors of Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) scale and participants scored lower on several competencies including: scholastic abilities, athletic ability, social acceptance, close friendships, and behavioral conduct. The differences found may be influenced by parenting skills, environment, or the interaction between them. Implications for practice would suggest these youth have lower competency scores in important developmental areas, and should benefit from interventions designed to increase mastery in critical competency areas.

Urban residential development, economic viability and urban capacity studies

This research examined new ways of investigating the economic viability of prospective urban housing development. The paper reviews both the theory and the practice of assessing economic viability. The research sought to improve the economic viability aspects of urban capacity studies that identify land and buildings that are suitable for future residential development. The methodology adopted and applied in the research proposes that viability can be judged from indicative residual values for identified sites. The values are generated from secondary data informed by professional opinion. Estimates of all development costs, other than site acquisition costs, are deducted from anticipated revenue to provide the residual values. Positive indicative residual values, if they are large enough to cover site acquisition costs, suggest that sites are viable for residential development. Whilst developed for the purposes of informing urban capacity studies, the methodology has wider applications, including informing policy actions that are designed to enhance the viability of potential residential development sites.

Car-Free Housing Developments: Toward Sustainable Smart Growth and Urban Regeneration Through Car-Free Zoning, Car-Free Redevelopment, Pedestrian Improvement Districts, and New Urbanism

ABSTRACT European car-free and car-reduced housing projects in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland that discourage, prohibit, or ignore automobile ownership by residents, have received limited and skeptical reception by some politicians, public sector planners, and academics. Based on a tour of these projects, they should instead be models for a policy to achieve sustainable urban life. The projects present an improved quality of life due to superior open and spaces. In addition, the projects integrate the best elements of green architecture, seeking to use less electricity and water through the use of building materials, insulation, and special elements such as roofs, solar generation of power, and the reuse of surface water. Three characteristics of these projects merit further study and support their replication as models for urban housing development: (1) residents of car-free housing projects strive together in search of an ecological community, reinforcing community goals and practices, with residents relying primarily on walking and bicycling rather than driving or even public transit; (2) the model ecological community educates and reinforces a lifestyle of environmental sensitivity and protection; and (3) the projects accommodate the demand for living in attractive, accessible, ecological communities and serve as the best antidote to the destructive increase in the automobile dominance of cities. In both developed and developing communities, car-free living can be extended as a residential choice through a number of urban revitalization mechanisms such as car-free zoning, new urbanism, car-free redevelopment, and pedestrian improvement districts. ********** CAR-FREE HOUSING One of the most interesting innovations in European housing design at the turn of the millennium is car-free housing. The concept of car-free housing involves the marketing of housing to a population that desires to live without an automobile and in a community whose residents share that ecological goal. Residents of these communities often share broader ecological values, and typically the design of these projects includes various physical planning elements, architectural design, and building materials and components that reduce water, heating, and electrical consumption. For example, the projects are usually designed to convert surface water runoff to water for irrigation and other uses such as flushing toilets. (1) Most dramatically, these projects convert parking lots to open space for recreation and garden allotments, providing urban high-density housing with a more rural, appearance. In addition, these projects typically provide community spaces for activities and services that advance the community identity, such as cafes, bicycle repair shops, health food stores, and educational and recreation programs, including day care and kindergartens. Projects employ restrictions in varying ways. Some, such as GWL-Terrein in Amsterdam, Beginenhof in Bremen, Gartensiedlung Weibenburg in Munster, and Floridsdorf in Vienna, restrict residency to persons who contractually agree not to own an automobile. A small portion of the Amsterdam residents may compete by lottery for a limited number of parking spaces that the city required be included in the project. Others, such as the Vauban in Freiburg, place no restrictions on automobile ownership, but require that automobiles be parked in a parking garage in which the car owner must purchase an expensive parking space. In others, such as the Reim airport in Munich, or Saarlandstrasse in Hamburg, residents may have their maintenance payments increased if they obtain a car. In Hamburg's Saarlandstrasse, if a number of residents obtain cars, the development may be liable for previously waived fees. Some projects, such as the Reim airport in Munich or Donau (Danube) City in Vienna, which provide underground parking infrastructure, or Freiburg's Vauban, which requires parking at large peripheral parking garages, seek to remove automobiles from residential areas. …

The Changing Dynamics of Land-Use Change in Rural China: A Case Study of Yuhang, Zhejiang Province

There is considerable debate in the literature on the extent and magnitude of Chinese rural land-use change since the onset of reforms in 1978. Moreover, there is little agreement on the factors leading to rural land-use change. Urbanization of the countryside, rural industrialization and housing development, lack of systematic agricultural protection policies and mechanisms for their implementation, and land-development programs are often considered responsible for the conversion of agricultural land to nonagricultural uses. Through a detailed case study of Yuhang in Zhejiang Province, the author attempts to unveil the complexity involved in land-use change in rural China. A variety of data sources, including published and unpublished official documents and statistics, local gazetteers, key informant interviews, and field observations, are employed. The results of the case study indicate a substantial reduction in agricultural land over the last twenty years. However, the path of this decline has not been smooth. The second decade of reform saw much evidence of decline in agricultural land. Spatially, the most severe decrease in agricultural land has been in areas close to urban centers, and with high accessibility. Urban sprawl, rural industrialization, and housing development have all contributed to the loss of agricultural land. But the author concludes that governments at various levels have played contradictory roles in the process of change. Whereas the governments have made a series of policy initiatives to protect agricultural land, they have, however, been the most important players in destabliizing the land base for agricultural production.

China’s Land Use Reforms: A Review of Journal Literature

This bibliography reviews periodical literature on China’s experience in land use reforms after the 1970s. It begins by examining the introduction of market mechanisms in land allocation and subsequent changes in land tenure in both rural and urban areas, in which land use rights are separated from ownership and are privatized. These changes led to the development of urban housing markets and a housing finance system. The bibliography then examines influences from legislative and administrative sectors, such as land use laws, governmental policies, and urban planning. In addition, the bibliography examines Hong Kong’s land use system that is based on market mechanisms in which, nonetheless, the city government, through land use laws and plans, plays a significant role.

Several Factors Mitigate Seniors’ High Suicide Risk

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessSeveral Factors Mitigate Seniors’ High Suicide RiskJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:16 Aug 2002https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.37.16.0018Older Americans, and especially older white men, are at greater risk of suicide than any other group. And now some of the factors that increase seniors’ suicide risk have been identified in two studies reported in the August American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.Those factors are depression, poor sleep quality, limited social support, and the possession of firearms.In the first study, Carolyn Turvey, Ph.D., of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, and her colleagues followed some 15,000 elderly subjects’ mental and physical health over a decade as part of the Established Populations for Epidemiological Studies of the Elderly.Of those subjects, 21 committed suicide during the study period. Baseline and follow-up data about these 21 subjects were then compared with baseline and follow-up data about the remaining subjects (controls) to identify suicide risk factors.Depression, poor sleep quality, and absence of a relative or friend to confide in turned out to be risk factors, whereas medical illness and alcohol use were not.Interestingly, depression, poor sleep quality, and limited social support have previously been identified as risk factors for death by natural causes, as well as for death by suicide. Or as Turvey and her team noted in their study report: “It appears that these variables erode a will to live that affects mortality even in the absence of suicidal tendencies.”In the second study, Yeates Conwell, M.D., of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and his colleagues probed the role of firearms in senior suicide risk, since firearms are the most common method of suicide used by both men and women in later life.The subjects included 86 persons aged 50 or older who had committed suicide and 86 community control subjects individually matched on age, sex, race, and county of residence.The presence of a firearm in the home was found to be associated with an increased risk of suicide, even after controlling for psychiatric illness. Elevated risk was accounted for by access to handguns rather than to long guns and was more pronounced in men than in women.However, it is probably not the presence of a firearm in the home per se that constitutes a risk factor for senior suicides, but rather the recent purchase of a firearm, Conwell and his team contended. The reason, they explained in their study report, is that firearm suicide rates for the elderly have declined markedly in states that have instituted waiting periods or background checks, or both, for handgun purchases.Yet just as depression, poor sleep quality, limited social support, and the recent purchase of a handgun may put seniors at risk of suicide, social support and religious beliefs may help protect them against it. The reason to believe that this is the case comes from a third study published in the August American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.This study, headed by Joan Cook, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, focused on a senior group with a very low suicide risk—older African-American women. Indeed, compared with older white men, older African-American men, and older white women, senior African-American women have had the lowest suicide rate for decades.Cook and her colleagues interviewed 835 elderly African Americans, 77 percent of whom were women, in urban public housing developments to find out how many were having suicidal thoughts. They found that only 27 (about 3 percent) were. They then compared characteristics of the suicide-contemplation subjects with the subjects not contemplating suicide and found that the former were more likely to be experiencing depression and anxiety and to have less life satisfaction, fewer social supports, and fewer religious beliefs. In fact, some 90 percent of control subjects reported that they obtained a great deal of support and comfort from religion.The study reports “Risk Factors for Late-Life Suicide: A Prospective, Community-Based Study,” “Access to Firearms and Risk for Suicide in Middle-Aged and Older Adults,” and “Suicidality in Older Americans: Findings From the EPOCH Study” are posted on the Web at http://ajgp.psychiatryonline.org under the August issue. ▪ Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2002 10 407 ISSUES NewArchived

Suicidality in Older African Americans: Findings From the EPOCH Study

The authors examined the current frequency of suicidality and associated characteristics in a sample of 835 African-American older adult residents of six urban public housing developments who consented to participate in an intervention trial of mobile outreach. The frequency of passive and active suicidal ideation was 2.5% and 1.4%, respectively. Characteristics of individuals with both active and passive suicidality included elevated anxiety, social dysfunction, somatic symptoms, low social support, lack of a confidant, and low religiosity. Characteristics of those with passive, but not active, ideation also included older age, lower levels of education, elevated depressive symptoms, poorer cognitive functioning, and having recently discussed emotional problems with a healthcare provider. The characteristics of those reporting active, but not passive, ideation included having a history of mental health treatment and reporting no instrumental support. Multivariate analyses indicated that depression and religiosity were uniquely associated with passive suicidal ideation, and life satisfaction and religiosity were uniquely associated with active suicidal ideation. The authors discuss implications of these findings and offer suggestions for research and clinical practice. The authors examined the current frequency of suicidality and associated characteristics in a sample of 835 African-American older adult residents of six urban public housing developments who consented to participate in an intervention trial of mobile outreach. The frequency of passive and active suicidal ideation was 2.5% and 1.4%, respectively. Characteristics of individuals with both active and passive suicidality included elevated anxiety, social dysfunction, somatic symptoms, low social support, lack of a confidant, and low religiosity. Characteristics of those with passive, but not active, ideation also included older age, lower levels of education, elevated depressive symptoms, poorer cognitive functioning, and having recently discussed emotional problems with a healthcare provider. The characteristics of those reporting active, but not passive, ideation included having a history of mental health treatment and reporting no instrumental support. Multivariate analyses indicated that depression and religiosity were uniquely associated with passive suicidal ideation, and life satisfaction and religiosity were uniquely associated with active suicidal ideation. The authors discuss implications of these findings and offer suggestions for research and clinical practice.

Suicidality in Older African Americans: Findings From the EPOCH Study

The authors examined the current frequency of suicidality and associated characteristics in a sample of 835 African-American older adult residents of six urban public housing developments who consented to participate in an intervention trial of mobile outreach. The frequency of passive and active suicidal ideation was 2.5% and 1.4%, respectively. Characteristics of individuals with both active and passive suicidality included elevated anxiety, social dysfunction, somatic symptoms, low social support, lack of a confidant, and low religiosity. Characteristics of those with passive, but not active, ideation also included older age, lower levels of education, elevated depressive symptoms, poorer cognitive functioning, and having recently discussed emotional problems with a healthcare provider. The characteristics of those reporting active, but not passive, ideation included having a history of mental health treatment and reporting no instrumental support. Multivariate analyses indicated that depression and religiosity were uniquely associated with passive suicidal ideation, and life satisfaction and religiosity were uniquely associated with active suicidal ideation. The authors discuss implications of these findings and offer suggestions for research and clinical practice.

International Real Estate Review

Government controls on urban land use are as pervasive as death and taxes. Certainly, I have never been in or seen reference to a country that placed no or even almost no, controls on how owners could develop and use urban land. The most comprehensive study of urban housing development policies, Angel and Mayo (1996), which covers 53 countries that include 80 percent of the world’s population, included none that approximated free markets in housing.

Urban housing development reform and in China

Urban housing development reform and in China

Detection of urban housing development by fusing multisensor satellite data and performing spatial feature post-classification

A large number of change detection techniques have been developed, but little has been done to detect detailed changes, such as urban housing development, using satellite data. In this study a new approach is presented. By fusing multispectral satellite data, e.g. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) or SPOT XS, with panchromatic satellite data, e.g. SPOT pan, big buildings (10-20 m in width) in urban areas can be extracted. By performing the spatial feature post-classification, e.g. (1) co-occurrence matrix-based filtering for separating buildings from noise, (2) axis-oriented linking and segmentation for a complete extraction of urban water areas, and (3) mathematical morphology operations for improving the classified green areas, the accuracy of the extracted classes is significantly increased and a detailed urban housing map can be generated. By overlaying this map with the built-up areas extracted from data of an earlier date, newly developed built-up areas can be detected and big buildings can individually be highlighted. This new approach was tested in the urban area of Shanghai, China, using Landsat TM and SPOT pan data. More detailed change detection than with conventional methods resulted in an average accuracy of the building extraction of 86%.

INSTITUTIONAL CREDIT FOR URBAN HOUSING FINANCE IN BANGLADESH: AN ANALYTICAL REVIEW

Housing finance institutions of Bangladesh are playing an important role towards residential house construction in towns and cities of the country. However the assistance of these institutions is limited to a few fortunate ones, and the vast majority of the urban dwellers are left out of their services. This paper has identified a number of reasons regarding inadequacy and inefficiency of these inst itutions. Firstly, the volume of loan disbursement by these institutions is grossly an adequate to cater for the requirements of the urban people. Secondly, the general poverty of the urban low and lower-middle income group, the majority of whom even cannot meet the basic criteria for loan allocation like ownership of a piece of land. Thirdly, failure of housing loan recovery system of many of these institutions which restricted further flow of funds for new house construction. Fourthly, corruption, rent seeking and bureaucracy in many of these financial institutions, which often favor a vested interest group. And finally, lack of adequate and pragmatic government policies and programs for urban housing development. This paper reviews institutional housing finance system in today’s Bangladesh, particularly its merits and demerits in the large metropolises, secondary cities and small towns. The paper examines the contribution of financial institutions in urban housing development, and assesses their performances. The paper also investigates ways and means for increasing institutional finance in urban areas of Bangladesh, and suggests a number of policy guidelines for the low and lower-middle income group in particular.

Life Satisfaction and Symptoms of Mental Disorder Among Older African American Public Housing Residents

This study examines life satisfaction and symptoms of mental disorder in a sample of 831 older African American residents of urban public housing developments. Symptoms of mental disorder included measures of emotional distress, alcohol-related problems, and cognitive impairment. Subjects reporting less life satisfaction had significantly greater emotional distress. Neither lifetime alcohol-related problems nor cognitive impairment were significantly related to life satisfaction. Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that emotional distress subscales accounted for most of the explained variance in life satisfaction. Social dysfunction was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, accounting for 17% of the variance. Having a confidant, instrumental social support, religious support, or being female also contributed to the explained variance in life satisfaction.